Almost four o’clock During Tesla’s Marathon Investment Day, someone in the audience tried to bring Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO (and Twitter and SpaceX) back to the present moment. From a stage at the Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, Musk announced an ambitious “Master Plan 3” to save the world. With $10 trillion invested in manufacturing, Musk said, the world could move wholesale to a renewable grid that powers cars, planes and trains.
“The Earth can and will transition to a sustainable energy economy, and will do so during your lifetime,” Musk stated. He said more details will be revealed in the upcoming white paper. But the presentation lacked specifics about the part of the electric transition that lies in Tesla’s gift: the next-generation vehicle it has been teasing for years, promising something at a reasonable price. Cheaper, more efficient, and more efficiently built than anything in the world. its current lineup. This vehicle or vehicle group will be critical to achieving Tesla’s goal of selling 20 million vehicles by 2030; it sold 1.3 million by 2022.
An investor asked the company’s executives, what car would that be? Musk declined to share. “We would be happy to answer your questions,” he said, explaining that the company will be holding a separate event to unveil the mystery car somewhere in the future. The slides shown in the presentation show only images of the car shapes under the gray panels.
Instead, the company’s 17 executives shared some information about the car in a series of presentations focused on everything from design to supply chain, manufacturing to environmental impact. and legal issues.
The next-generation vehicle will be more than just an automobile, but an approach to vehicle building that focuses on “affordability and affordability,” said Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering. desired level”. It will be built at a new plant near Monterrey, Mexico, which was announced at Wednesday’s event and will be Tesla’s sixth battery and electric vehicle plant. Executives say the next-generation car will be 40% smaller in scale and will cut production costs by 50%.
Wall Street seems to have expected a bit more detail. By Thursday morning, the company’s stock price was down 5%.
Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said in a note to investors: “The highly anticipated topic of Master Plan 3 left me with more questions than answers. .
“Musk and company have failed to put the cherry on top — a realistic look at a lower-priced Tesla, if only conceptually,” said Jessica Caldwell, chief executive of the insights division. insight at Edmunds, an automotive industry research firm, said in an email commentary.
A truly affordable electric car has long been the company’s goal. First Tesla Master plan—published in 2006, before Musk was CEO — at the time, simple but radically radical: Build an electric sports car and use that money to build Electric cars are getting cheaper and cheaper. The company touts its second electric vehicle, the Model 3, as battery-powered rides for the massesbut the car is only sold for target price $35,000 for a limited time. Its base model currently sells for $43,000. Meanwhile, automakers traditionally inspired by Tesla’s vision have stepped into the void: today’s Chevrolet Bolt starts at $26,500 and the Nissan Leaf costs $28,000.
a second Master plan, published in 2016, promises self-driving cars and shared robotic axles, while boosting the automaker’s (now struggling) solar panel business. Robots on wheels are yet to appear — although Wednesday’s events did include a cameo from Optimus, a still clumsy cyborg. humanoid robot prototype are also being built by Tesla.
musk rarely meets his self-imposed deadlines, but he has always excelled at mobilizing others to support his cause with grandiose statements and far-reaching vision. Now he looks beyond cars and even robots. “I really want this day to be not just for investors who own Tesla stock, but for anyone who is an investor on Earth,” he said.
